(John Ritter, Robin Williams or Treat Williams). Metcalf and his fellow producers Griffin Dunne and Amy Robinson had always intended Heard to play the lead, and turned down the offer. Metcalf also said that Meryl Streep agreed to play the role of Laura, but only if Sam Waterston was cast as Charles. The proudcers, who did not have a casting director and cast the picture themselves along with director Joan Micklin Silver, cast Mary Beth Hurt instead since Streep would not act opposite Heard. The United Artists distribution people rejected the title Chilly Scenes of Winter and a joke title that Metcalf and the other producers suggested thinking it would be rejected, Head Over Heels, was accepted after 20th Century Fox would not surrender the rights of another proposed title, Laura, because it was the title of one of their classic films. Parts of the film were shot in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to director Silver, the producers would have filmed the movie in Albany, New York but the local movie unions' demands were economically prohibitive. Ann Beattie, who "loved" Silver's script, gave the producers an option for her book with the proviso that they give her a bit part in the movie. She was paid $26 for appearing as a waitress in a diner scene, not given dialogue as she would have had to be paid $225 for a speaking part. Release The original version of the film was titled Head over Heels on the insistence of United Artists, which financed and distributed the movie. The name change was protested by the film's crew members, who signed a petition to protest the change The Head Over Heels cut had a happy ending in which Laura reunited with Charles, which was in the Ann Beattie novel. In 1982, United Artists launched its United Artists Classics division that re-released it with a new melancholy ending (achieved by simply omitting the last scene), and the title was changed to match the novel. The film had a more successful run this time. Reception Reviewing the original version, Vincent Canby of The New York Times described the film as "seeming to be on the verge of some revelation of profound feeling that, at long last, never comes." However, he gave high praise to the acting, writing "there's not a false performance in the film." Leonard Maltin referred to the film as divisive: "it